Subtle Differences
by Celena Winter
Summary: AU. As Tori struggles to get by on the streets of the once prosperous Hereon, Yue struggles to help his country get back on its feet, but will the fight get any harder when the two youths meet or will it help them get to their destination...
1. Unfolding

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the cardcaptor sakura characters (Yue, Eli, Laila...) but do own some of the others (Helios, Edwin...)

**Subtle differences **

_Unfolding_

Hereon was the most prosperous country by far, yes by far… but sometimes happiness just doesn't last. Hereon had been ruled by many emperors over the centuries, some were better rulers than others but nonetheless Hereon had been well ruled, that was until two decades prior to this date. Such a pity, what a true waste of time and life… but surely no one could have known of the decisiveness that took place inside the palace walls.

After Emperor Edwin died twenty years ago, his successor Eli, didn't take reign over Hereon like he was supposed to, in his place Helios took reign, no one had heard of Helios, a supposed nephew of the late Emperor Edwin, until the naming of the succeeding emperor was to be done. On this day a young man came forward and declared that he had right to the title, more than Eli, the council opposed this as did the people but Eli said that the young man had a right to be heard. After Helios explained his tale, Eli agreed that perhaps he should take the title instead, after all he was of blood and he was better suited than Eli himself. Eli after all was not of Edwin's blood as Edwin had no child through his wife.

Unfortunately, Helios proved to be less than worthy for the title and Hereon soon descended from its high ranking of a noble and prosperous country. The status of middle class and noble class were soon deteriorated to emperor and the peasants. Most of the country's riches were summed up and given to the emperor and the population found itself in uncalled debts. What had been centuries of hard work done by both the aristocrats and the people of the Hereon was suddenly demolished in a couple of weeks by a childish and greedy boy.

However Helios's rule didn't pass more than a dozen years, the young man had died suddenly in his sleep. There were no questions asked but many did maintain in many people's minds, but they were quickly put at the back each person's mind as Eli was once again successor, before taking on the title as Emperor of Hereon, Eli apologised for his misjudgement, not because he had given a person the chance to prove his worth but because the decision had caused a lot of pain, grief, and life in Hereon. Then he proceeded to accept the title and then to present his family to the people; his wife, Laila and his two children Yue and Ruby. The population was delighted with the youths and the promising future that each member of the family held in their smiles.

It has been eight years since Eli took his role as Emperor, and the country has been through an enormous change – for the better. Each member of the family has shown their strengths and their worth as they all helped rebuild Hereon… but this story is about a certain member and all his discoveries as he develops along with his people and country.

What has a secret, a witch and a lie got to do with the true inheritance of one's life… why don't we find out as we follow the journey of a young prince as he gets out of the palace walls, meets his people and perhaps finds love in the most unexpected place…


	2. Help

Hi guys, Andre here.

The first review that I received for my latest fanfiction has pointed out that not everyone is aware of the English names for the Cardcaptor Sakura characters.

So this is just a little message that I thought would be helpful for you guys.

Well first of all I want to apologise for my thoughtlessness, to you all. It didn't come to mind that you guys wouldn't know their English names. But unfortunately I have gone a bit too far into the fic to actually change the names so I'll just give you this help.

**Characters**

Kinomoto Sakura - Sakura Avalon

Kinomoto Touya - Tori Avalon

Kinomoto Fujitaka - Aiden Avalon

Kinomoto Nadesiko - Natasha Avalon

Daidouji Tomoyo - Madison Taylor

Daidouji Sonomi - Samantha Taylor

Shaolan / Syaoran Li - Li Showron

Li Meilin - Meiling Rae

Tukisiro Yukito - Julian Star

Hiiragizawa Eriol - Eli Moon

Akizuki Nakuru - Ruby Moon

Yue - Yue

Spinel Sun - Spinel Sun

Ceroberus - Kero

Mitsuki Kaho - Laila Mackenzie

I really hope it helps not just in this fics but in others that you may find without the Japanese names.

Hugs and kisses

God Bless


	3. Life

**Hey guys I don't make it a habit of posting so early on, but since I was thoughtless (previous page explains) I thought I'll be nice and give you and update today.**

**Chapter one**

_Life_

The eighteen year old looked out the carriage window, he smiled as the people that he passed stopped their work and waived amiably at him. He said his ritual small 'thank you' prayer before resuming his watch over the land that he passed through. "Master Yue, we are here." Giles spoke as Yue felt the carriage slowly to a stop. The bodyguard promptly got out and in seconds he showed up on Yue's side of the carriage and opened the door as the Emperor's son smiled his thanks and proceeded to look at the building that stood before him. "Isn't it just something Giles?" Yue said breathlessly, his voice not above the usual audible whisper. The bodyguard smiled and nodded his agreement as he looked at the building that Yue had worked so hard on, for the past three years. Being the son of the Emperor, Yue had been limited his amount of time outside the palace walls to a zero, especially on his own.

It hadn't always been that way, but ever since the downfall of the kingdom, Hereon's new reputation had attracted new immigrants that had other ideas in their mind other than restoring the prosperity. In that case nobles had been restricted their free ability to mingle with their people. The Emperor and his family has been disturbed by this newly found realisation, but this only strengthened their motives to help Hereon get back on its feet. For the first five years of Emperor Eli's reign, Yue had worked along side with his family to improve the lives of everyone in Hereon, restoring homes, jobs and aid for those that remained lost not to mention controlling the new crimes that had been formed.

At the age of fifteen Yue had been allowed to develop his own ideas so the young teen brainstormed in the isolation of his room and came up with different plans as he watched his people work. Some of the ideas were not fully accepted as those involved were not sure of how to initiated them and other ideas were just to farfetched to even look at,in all Giles helped young Yue put other smaller ideas together and the results was one of satisfaction. The result stood in front of them now. It had taken four months to get the overall plan made between Yue and Giles and once it had been accepted it took seven more months to develop and getting it operating. Yue went to some of the functions that took place, he chose the building, the overall layout and outlook of the whole operation and he went to the opening. His involvement with his work was restricted when it came to working outside the palace walls, so Yue had to content himself with getting the paperwork out of the way and making new plans that added to the resort. Giles spend a lot of his time at the working site, helping out and keeping updated with the things that were happening so that he could report back to Yue and explain in detail as the resort developed everyday.

The resort was an entire block of buildings merged into one, many activities took place within these walls that helped the population of Hereon, especially for the youths of the country as they had little to do – the schools and colleges where being re-established but the process was slow and a large amount of youths still had no choice but remain on the streets or at home doing very little or helping their parents which was limited at times because of their lack of skills and knowledge on the areas of work. – there were libraries, canteens, classes such as dance, swimming, self defence, art and so forth, there were also offices that helped the people as best as they could in cases as necessities for homes, jobs and finance. It was a success, but it wasn't very easy for the population to financially sustain it, so the Emperor and the rest of the nobles agreed that they would make the payment for the running of the resort until the people could pay for entry fees or at least give a collaboration to help keep it open.

For the first time Yue was going to step into his building and see how it worked, as well as take part in the functions, something he has longed to do since the resort opened. He felt a little scared that he would mess something up or make the others uneasy with his presence; after all he was a threat now since all nobles were targeted as much as possible by the unwelcome thorns that persisted to stay at Hereon. Yue had paid little attention to this negativity but that was until his mother was targeted at one point, she was unharmed but a few civilians were hurt. This came to shine a light to a problem that Eli didn't want to resurface. The people of Hereon were still being hurt even if they weren't the targets.

Tori walked into the resort. He had been back in Hereon for a couple of days now but after a fruitless search for his family, he decided to take a break. He had heard of the resort from a couple of kids who had been planning to go and take some dancing classes so that they could take their girlfriends out to a dance night. At the time Tori had laughed listening to the boys talking about their plans but now he realised that they must have really cared as to put themselves through such a task. The dark man surveyed the area quickly then rested his eyes upon his quarry, the canteen where three people were currently serving those that walked up. Two of the assistants were middle-aged ladies with tired yet smiling faces, the third seemed out of place, apart from being a boy, a very pretty boy at that, he was also very delicate and shone with life and warmth, he didn't look at all troubled or tired as the rest of the people did, his eyes did hint worry but that was quickly covered by another smile. He pulled his eyes away from the white haired youth and walked up to the man dressed in black that stood by the canteen till, close to the young assistant. "How much does it cost to get a meal?" Tori enquired quickly not bothering to acknowledge the man. In turn the man quirked an eyebrow before answering. "You don't need to pay, the nobles pay."

Tori looked at the bigger man with confused shock as though to say _are you nuts?_ but proceeded to get in line. He looked at the meals that were on display, half expecting them to be of poor quality but realised that all food was healthy and appetising. He was served his first course by the blonde middle-aged woman he chose a bowl of chicken soup but was oblivious to the look of shock that the woman send him, his second course was rice and egg, once again he was ignorant of the look that the redhead send him at once.

"I want that one." Tori spoke, his cold voice broke a little and he felt his hands sweat a little as he tried to think of the name of the dessert that he wanted. There was a pause; Tori looked up to see why the youth wasn't complying with his request. Deep blue eyes met clear silvery orbs. The youth had raised eyebrows as he looked at the darker boy.

"Please" Yue's voice was a whisper but Tori caught the single word nonetheless, a pleasant smile waited as Tori looked back in an incredulous confusion then he realised what the youth had meant with his pause and word. He looked around and noted that those close by were listening to them. "Can I have some of that peach and pineapple salad please?" Tori said quickly as he cut his eye contact with the youth.

"Oh you like peach and pineapple too. This salad is my absolute favourite." The youth supplies gently as he carefully poured the contents into a bowl then passed it to Tori with a small wave. "I hope you enjoy your meal." The smile once again caught the older boy and he couldn't help but whisper his gratitude.

Tori sat close to the exit, facing both the canteen and the door, he took his time appreciating the meal that had been served. He watched as people moved in and out of the open space, all coming from different directions, some taking their time to stop and greet the white haired youth. At last the assistant smiled his goodbye to the other two ladies and made his way to the exit after delivering his apron to a drawer. Tori watched as the bigger man opened the door for the young man, but he missed the smile and small nod of gratitude that the boy had send back to the waiting man. "Hey prince" Yue stopped half way through the door and turned to the calling voice. "Just coz you help out here, it don't mean that you're too high and mighty for manners to apply to you."

Yue realising the mistake made, stopped Giles from moving forward and hurting the dark boy. "I do apologise for my thoughtlessness." His hand tightened slightly on Giles's arm as the bodyguard tried to move forward once again; smiling toTori before nodding his goodbye he turned to the older man. "Thank you Giles. We may continue now, I'll rather not be late, you know how mother is when one is late." Once outside both men turned to look at Tori, but both men had very different looks; Giles had a wild look in his eyes, one of hate and disgust. Yue on the other hand was looking, intrigue, fascinated and something more.

Tori shook his head trying to forget the looks that he had received, Giles's look was easily forgotten but the youth's… he couldn't seem to forget anything about him. Someone sat opposite him and crossed its arms; Tori looked up acknowledging the woman's presence as he decided he didn't have time for small talk. It was the blonde assistant. "Where do you get off talking to Yue like that?" Tori frowned in confusion.

"Who's Yue?" a few spoons dropped in the background.

"Yue is the young man that you insulted. He paid for your food, he served you and he taught you a lesson. What makes _you_ so 'high and mighty' that lets you insult the son of the Emperor and compare him to a low life. That boy has more manners and more spank that you'll ever have. So I suggest you get over to the palace and apologise." The blonde stood up not waiting for a response and walked back to her duty.

Tori opened his mouth to ask how Yue had paid for his meal, after allit was free, when he remembered what Giles had said. _"The nobles pay."_ "Well done Tori you haven't even been back for an entire week and you're already making enemies with the royals not to mention the locals." Tori exhaled slowly.

"Don't you worry your little head lad, Yue don't hold a grudge for the life of him." A small elderly voice whispered behind the young man, but by the time Tori turned around there was no one close by.


End file.
